We went back out the way we came without any encounters. I was first to surface from the noxious smelling sewers. I climbed out of the hole to stand on the sidewalk, shocked by the soft light of a new morning.

  In my street life, I hadn’t seen too many sunrises since Mom died. Maybe none. It occurred to me that this might be the first sunrise I’d seen since I was twelve, eating a donut with mom in the station wagon as she gently stroked my hair. Homeless life hadn’t been a burden when she was around. It had just been life. After she was gone, my homelessness became loneliness, perpetual dissatisfaction, and living hunger, all while the sun rose and set on and on, even as I forgot to look.

  I took in a deep breath of BioZone City’s sulphorous air. It was gross but far better than the effluvium I’d been choking on in the sewers.

  WILL: First light’s just breaking!

  And then my arm was nearly broken as a baseball bat slammed it. Still, that was gonna leave a bruise.

  “Harvest time! And a bounty! Thanks in advance pal!”

  I only had a second to take in my attacker. Zog — level 6, had a big square face and an imposing broad-shouldered body to match. He wore a black leather jacket and had his own prison tattoo, a 5 that he was working on turning into a 6. He drew back his baseball bat and swung again, but I was ready this time and jumped back.

  Trix lifted her head out of the sewer entrance, saw Zog getting ready to swing again, and scorched him with her magic flame.

  I pulled out my hunting knife and got ready to spring.

  “A witch!” called out Zog, backing away.

  I followed him as Trix hit him again. This time Zog screamed in pain and fled. He sprinted down the sidewalk and disappeared into an alleyway.

  I took off after him.

  TRIX: Stop, Will! It could be an ambush!

  WILL: Me ambushing him.

  But I slowed down at the entrance to the alleyway, peeking around the corner cautiously. It was a dead end and Zog was alone. He’d torn off his still flaming jacket and was trying to kick a door open.

  KEEL: Yes, yes. Now we hunt. Stay low, Will. Wait for him to swing and then strike.

  I walked forward, knife out.

  “Hey, man. Just lay off. It ain’t fair, two against one,” said Zog.

  “I’m not an idiot, dude. I know what your prison tattoo means.”

  He grit his teeth and readied his bat. Didn’t say another word, just surged toward me.

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  KEEL: Let him come. Stay low. Do you feel the moment? The taste of a kill right on the tip of the blade.

  WILL: I feel it, Keel. I feel it!

  KEEL: Good.

  KIARA: Will, why are you talking to your knife?

  Zog raised his bat and swung down on me, crashing down on my shoulder. I fell to the ground and heard my knife clatter to the pavement beside me.

  KEEL: Fool! You weren’t fast enough!

  Zog raised his bat once again, but suddenly screamed as more of Trix’s magic fire erupted around his arms and hands.

  “Back off, bud,” Trix commanded. “Unless you want me to burn your ugly face off.”

  Zog, his health halfway gone, dropped his bat into his inventory. “You really gonna let me go?”

  “Leave,” said Trix.

  Zog kept his hands up as he took a tentative step away and then bolted. The sound of his feet hitting the pavement grew fainter until Zog was just a memory of a near miss and a couple of serious bruises on my arm and shoulder.

  I recovered the knife, and we left the alleyway and found Kiara.

  KIARA: Are you alright, Will?

  WILL: Yeah. I’ll be okay.

  KIARA: I mean, dude, that was scary. What were you feeling that you were telling Keel about?

  WILL: I, uh, I don’t know.

  Kiara looked at Trix with concern in her face.

  TRIX: That knife, I don’t know. It’s a necessary evil for now. Just listen to me more than you listen to it, okay?

  I shook my head in agreement.

  WILL: Okay, Trix.

  We trekked to the store Kiara knew about, without incident, but the place was a wreck when we arrived. Bodies lay on the street. The storefront windows were gone, and inside, the remains, what little hadn’t been looted, were smouldering.

  TRIX: Can’t say I’m surprised one of these General Stores was looted. The game’s credit drop is pathetic, so the equipment they showcase in these stores stays unattainable.

  Special system message! BioZone has been working hard to keep the streets safe. Not the streets in here, mind you, but nevertheless, you should be proud of the hard work our crack team of combat-ready commandos have done rounding up criminals. Don’t worry, you’ll get to celebrate those heroes three days from now as they march through the streets. But in the meantime, you get to see the fruit of their labors. Namely, 254 new players will be joining your ranks today, spawning randomly throughout Quadrant 1. Won’t it be nice to make new friends?

  KIARA: This game is sadistic.

  TRIX: And we’re pressured to play the way it wants.

  WILL: Speaking of—

  I pulled out my replaced Dag pellet.

  WILL: I got another one of these.

  TRIX: Jagger got one too. You don’t want it.

  WILL: What is it?

  TRIX: It put him in a rage that cost us a party member.

  I noted that Trix’s eyes did not turn blue while she was speaking. I put the pellet back in my inventory without another word.

  TRIX: That pellet is another Corporal Keel. Don’t let it out.

  KIARA: Here’s a question. Do we believe that there even are exits out of this quadrant?

  Trix was scoping our surroundings.

  TRIX: I’ve been wondering the same thing.

  WILL: What about the Trust Foundation? Aren’t the quadrant strongholds exit points?

  TRIX: Quadrant stranglehold, you mean. An exit you can’t access is no exit. That place is loaded with level 20 guards with a level 35 boss on the prowl that stacks his power when guards are nearby. We made the mistake of going in there once. I’m not making that mistake again.

  WILL: Then what’s our strategy? Hunt down the new players? Harvest as many worthless level 1 abilities as possible and hope for the best?

  Kiara shivered uncomfortably at the suggestion.

  TRIX: That’s the obvious move. But I think it’s another dead end. Look at all this endless space. These megatall structures are everywhere, but the entries are all locked and under extreme guard. But we do have a map of the underground system. I think our way forward is down. Otherwise, we’re counting down the hours until BioZone’s footsoldiers hit the streets. And something tells me that they’re going to make Mukari look like Glass Joe, the pushover from Round One in Mike Tyson’s Punchout.

  KIARA: What about the heal potions?

  Trix patted me on the back.

  TRIX: This is our heal potion.

  Kiara looked at me, troll that I was, and smiled.

  KIARA: You know, in your own way, you are a chick magnet.